The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 30, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 08, 1996
Andrew M Bryant, Loughborough, GB;
Nicholas C Miller, White Bear Lake, MN (US);
Peter D Hodson, Trowell, GB;
Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, St. Paul, MN (US);
Abstract
A metered dose dispensing valve is described that is particularly suitable for dispensing metered volumes of a pressurised aerosol formulation. The valve comprises a chamber, and a valve stem extending into the chamber and movable relative to the chamber between non-dispensing and dispensing positions. The valve stem has a configuration and the chamber has an internal configuration such that a metered volume is defined therebetween and such that during movement between its non-dispensing and dispensing positions the valve stem sequentially: (i) allows free flow of aerosol formulation into the chamber, (ii) defines a closed metered volume for pressurised aerosol formulation between the external surface of the valve stem and internal surface of the chamber, and (iii) moves with the closed metered volume within the chamber without decreasing the volume of the closed metered volume until the metered volume communicates with an outlet passage thereby allowing dispensing of the metered volume of pressurised aerosol formulation.